"For it seemed good to the Holy
Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no
greater burden than these necessary
things" (Ads 15:28).
The title of this week's lesson does
not express the most acceptable
doctrine for some church members
these days, and it is even less accept-
able outside the church. The spirit
of independence and self-depend-
ence, the general disillusionment
with leadership and bureaucracy, the
challenging of all forms of author-
ity, the determination of so many to
do things their own way, to strike
out alone—all of these make the
voice of the church less acceptable
today than possibly at any previous
time since its founding. While the
youth tend to receive most of the
blame for this current attitude, they
are either not as guilty as some claim
or the adult world has absorbed
from them much of the same atti-
tude.
There is no use trying to deny that
a growing disillusionment with the
institutional church exists at the
same time that a growing wave of
interest and involvement in religious
activity and commitment has de-
veloped, much of it in the name of
Jesus Christ. So the one who makes
bold to claim that God speaks to
man through His church must expect
to be seriously challenged today.
Nevertheless, if a person can bring
himself to take an unimpassioned
and objective look at the New Testa-
ment church, the evidence will in-
dicate that the church was indeed
entrusted by God to be one of His
key channels of communication to
man. The record of Pentecost itself,
when the power and presence of the
Holy Spirit were so signally mani-
fested to and through the followers
of Jesus, shows that those who were
being saved by their acceptance of
the Saviour and by the ministry of
the Spirit continued in the teaching
and fellowship of the apostles. And
where can these be found outside
the church of Jesus Christ? (See Acts
2:41-47.)
When Jesus ascended to heaven,
the Holy Spirit proceeded to guide
the church of apostles and believers
"into all truth" (John 16:13) and to
resolve issues and problems which
arose within the inexperienced and
youthful church.
The same Holy Spirit, working
through the apostles of Jesus Christ,
gave us the New Testament and
guided the church in the develop-
ment of the canon of Scripture, de-
termining which writings were
"given by inspiration of God." (See
John 15:26, 27.)
The same Spirit (promised by Jesus
to His followers for the period of His
own absence from the realms of
men) gives authority to the Spirit-
guided decisions of the church even
today and will do so until the work
of the church on earth is completed
and Jesus comes again. (See Acts
1:8; Eph. 4:4-30.) Hence the declara-
tion of the early church: "It seemed
good to the Holy Ghost, and to us."
Before we proceed with this
week's lesson, let us pause to note
that with lesson 8 we completed the
more detailed study of six channels
of God's self-revelation which were
outlined in lesson 2. Now we turn
to one channel often overlooked, the
church. This will be closely followed
by the consideration of the spirit of
prophecy as a channel. Then we
shall consider the individual's role
as an interpreter of God's messages
and also my response to them before
we climax the quarter with the joy-
ous assurance that God will speak
to me face-to-face.
LESSON OUTLINE
1.
Call and Commission (Luke 6:13;
Matt. 28:19, 20)
2.
Divine Authority (Matt. 18:18, 19)
3.
Christ's Body (Eph. 1:22, 23)
4.
The Brotherhood (Matt. 23:8)
5.
The Kingdom Incomparable
(Mark 4:30-32)
6.
Preparation for Triumph
(Rev. 14:5)